Guide dog dragged by train along Flinders Street Station platform

Metro Trains has apologised after a guide dog was dragged along the platform at Melbourne's Flinders Street Station when the train's doors closed on its lead.Lucy Carpenter said she was travelling home from her job at Guide Dogs Victoria on Tuesday afternoon and boarded a train, as she and her guide dog Dottie had done hundreds of times over the past four years.Ms Carpenter, who has low vision, said she put her hand on the door to guide herself into the carriage when the doors closed between her and Dottie."It happened very quickly, and I didn't have a lot of time to react," Ms Carpenter said.Lucy Carpenter says her guide dog's lead became trapped in the doors of a carriage as she boarded a train at Flinders Street Station on Tuesday. (ABC News)The dog's leash was trapped in the doors and, despite passengers rushing to her aid, they were unable to open the doors and the train departed."I was just filled with panic," she said. "I knew that as soon as the doors shut behind me, that this was a really bad situation."She said a passenger told her that a woman on the platform had been able to yank the lead out of the door, but she did not know whether Dottie had been injured.A woman standing on the platform managed to yank Dottie's lead out of the doors and secure the guide dog. (ABC News: Ron Ekkel)Other passengers pressed the driver intercom multiple times, but the train continued on to its next stop at Southern Cross Station.A passenger helped the distressed Ms Carpenter from the train and accompanied her onto another train back to Flinders Street Station."There was a Metro staff member and the lady who had gotten Dottie out of the doors standing there," Ms Carpenter said."The Metro staff member also mentioned that she was waving the train to stop, which also went unnoticed."Dottie suffered a minor injury when she was dragged along the platform at Flinders Street Station. (ABC News)Ms Carpenter credits the woman who freed Dottie with saving the dog's life."I owe her so much," she said."It's quite a scary situation. Obviously, Dottie means so much to me — she's my eyes, she's my best friend, she's my safety, she's my confidence and it's our job to look after each other."Dottie suffered a minor injury to a toenail, but Ms Carpenter said it was yet to be seen whether her performance as a guide dog would be affected by the incident."It's quite a traumatising incident for both of us to go through, and it's something that we'll have to work through to ensure that we can continue being confident travelling independently," Ms Carpenter said.Lucy Carpenter says she and Dottie have been frequent commuters in the four years they have been together. (ABC News)Metro Trains has apologised to Ms Carpenter in a statement sent to the ABC in which the operator said Ms Carpenter was holding the doors of the train open.It said the doors were designed to prevent a train from moving if they were obstructed by an object, but the thinness of the lead did not stop them from closing."We apologise for what would have been an incredibly distressing experience for both the passenger and dog involved," the statement said."We encourage passengers not to hold open or attempt to reopen closing train doors to avoid unsafe situations and to stay behind the yellow line if the door closing noise is activated."It said it was conducting a review to see if there were any lessons to be learned from the incident.Ms Carpenter said Metro Trains had not contacted her. "I'm aware that they have released a statement, which is pretty disappointing as it places a lot of the blame on myself," she said.Ms Carpenter said she was worried the same thing could happen to other travellers, especially those with low vision or people with small children.CEO of Guide Dogs Victoria, Nicky Long, said the incident had left her team feeling anxious."It could have had a very bad outcome," Ms Long said.She called on Metro Trains to provide more driver education.Nicky Long has thanked all the commuters who helped Lucy and Dottie. (ABC News)"Everyone should expect the right to safety when they're catching public transport," Ms Long said."For people in our community — blind and low-vision clients — we work with them to establish routines, train them on navigating barriers, working around systems that are not necessarily built for them, and it's absolutely vital that they have some level of predictability and certainty when they're travelling."Daniel Bowen from the Public Transport Users Association said Metro Trains should also look at whether its cameras and door sensors needed to be upgraded.The incident comes just months after a schoolboy suffered serious leg injuries after his backpack was snagged by a train mirror, trapping him under a train carriage at North Melbourne Railway Station.